March 27, 2015, 4:17 p.m. – MANILA Auxiliary Bishop
Broderick Pabillo has called on the Aquino administration to suspend the full
implementation of K to 12 program, saying that the looming retrenchment of
higher education institution (HEI) employees would be “overwhelming.”
“I appeal to President Benigno Simeon Aquino III, our
Honorable Justices in the Supreme Court, Bro. Armin [Luistro], and other
education officials to suspend the implementation of the K [to] 12 Law until
the real and valid concerns and grievances of our education workers are fully
addressed,” Pabillo said in a statement.
Pabillo said he backed calls for the suspension of the K to
12 program due to the “unjust labor practices brought upon by the hurried
implementation of the K to 12 Law.”
“We cannot sacrifice the welfare of committed education
workers, who have dedicated their lives in serving the nation through the
molding of our young people,” he said.
Pabillo added that the proposed P26-billion stabilization
fund would not be enough to cover compensation for all educators and other
school personnel to be retrenched next school year.
In a study conducted by the Commission on Higher Education
and the Department of Labor and Employment, an estimated 85,000 HEI teaching
and non-teaching staff would be at risk of losing their jobs due to the full
implementation of the K to 12 program.
On March 12, several teaching and non-teaching personnel
filed a petition before the Supreme Court calling for a temporary restraining
order on the K to 12 program. Another petition to suspend K to 12 will be filed
next month, according to Revenendo Vargas, UST High School Parents’ Association
board member and founding chairman of the group Parents Advocacy for Children’s
Education.
A nationwide protest headed by the Suspend K to 12 Alliance is
set to take place at Luneta Park on May 9. Arianne F. Merez
